South county volunteers put a shine on their communities

LAKE COUNTY -- The communities of Clearlake and Middletown lowered the broom on Saturday.

They also picked up roadside litter, pulled weeds, painted curbsides, hosed down sidewalks, and cleaned up school yards.

For a lot of people, the spring cleaning ritual means attacking the attic and garage and giving the kitchen walls a scrubbing they haven't had since, well, since last year at this time.

But on a bright Saturday morning in south Lake County -- made even brighter by the neon colors of the participants' vests and t-shirts -- this annual event meant putting a polish on two different zip codes.

About 115 volunteers showed up at Austin Park for an 8 a.m.-to-1 p.m. shift at the City of Clearlake's annual Spring Clean Up, according to city clerk Melissa Swanson.

Add to the mix another 35 city staff members, a fleet of the city's pickup trucks, plenty of garbage bags and other handy tools of the clean-up trade -- and what you get is one mean and green-leaning cleaning machine.

"Clearlake is a wonderful, active community," said Andrea Rios of Clearlake Waste Solutions, one of the event sponsors. "They really walk the talk here."

From Austin Park, volunteers armed with trash bags and litter grabbers headed east on Olympic Drive and south on Lakeshore Boulevard, combing the roadsides for garbage.

Some were taxied a mile or so down either thoroughfare where they continued the march all the way to Highway 53.

About 9 a.m., back into Austin Park rolled Debbie Bottini in her electric wheelchair, a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints' clean-up team, in need of another garbage bag.

"This is great," she said, "especially when you get tired of sitting at home."

And off she rolled down Lakeshore Drive, ready to snare any cup or wrapper or plastic bottle that presented itself.

Nearly a mile ahead of Bottini was Larry Rice, who lives in Oakland but has a vacation home in Clearlake where he spends most weekends this time of year.

"I do this every year. I'm just trying to do my part," he said before lifting his trash bag for a weight estimate, then opening it for a quick examination of contents. "I'd say there's eight to 10 pounds here. But there's less litter this year than in past years, when some of the stuff was so big, you couldn't get it into the bag."

An estimated 50 volunteers participated in the annual Middletown clean-up sponsored by the Middletown Area Town Hall (MATH).

"Because it's in an unincorporated area, we usually take the lead in the clean-up," said MATH Chairman Fletcher Thornton, who along with District 1 Planning Commission Joe Sullivan was putting a shiny red coat of paint onto a no-parking curbside at Highway 29 and Wardlaw Street.

Sullivan said it was the first time the Middletown event included painting curbs.

"We worked with Caltrans and with county public works this year and they were really helpful. We never could have done it without them," Sullivan said.

Peter Sullivan, Joe's 14-year-old son, had his own curb to paint right around the corner.

"I really like it," the Middletown High School freshman said. "It's more fun than picking up trash."

Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 14 or rmellott@record-bee.com.